Backlink Stalker
- SEO |
Hello everyone, I am brand new here, so I apologize if I sound somewhat ignorant.
I have a decent e-commerce site, which has been doing well with organic (non forced) links for the past 5 years. The site is pretty informative and well on-page optimized. I haven't forced any links to it, they have come naturally through the years.
Last year, something strange happened. Someone close to me (I considered him a very close friend) suddenly turned his back on me without apparent reason. He's been helping me with orders, receiving stock on my behalf (we were neighbors), etc. The person knew how much money I was making through the site, and also knew a lot of the details of how I built my business (as I said, he was close to me).
Few months after being in blissful ignorance why I was discarded from being his friend, it hit me really hard. That same person has made two similar sites to mine, and a forum (in addition to the two competing sites), which was dedicated to reviews of brands in the same niche. As you could probably guess, there were about 30 negative reviews about my business by the time I found out what was going on. As it turned out all those reviews were from the same IP (my ex-friend's IP). At the same time, he was pushing up his two e-commerce sites through the forum (while trashing me and optimizing for my brand name)
In addition, one year later, that same person keeps trolling all my backlinks and is stalking every single forum, blog, wiki, yahoo or anything else that random people have put content about my site through the years (unsolicited links I had). He also goes, and removes my links wherever he can. He goes and gets a link, article, lens, press release, or everything else I do, and his site is rapidly climbing rankings just a year after it was established.
In addition, he copied (spun) the content of my site, and needless to say uses my suppliers, all my contacts, etc. He was so close to me that he knew all this personal information.
I am really upset and annoyed. I have worked for 6 years on my reputation and credibility, and without bragging, I am proud of what I have been doing. However, it really hurts me that someone just capitalizes on my hard work, and is really good at getting ahead fast by simply copying me and trashing my image through fabricated reviews.
Any words of wisdom are appreciated. Yes, I know - get links where he can't get them, but that's really close to impossible (I am completely white hat, and not that rich either). Yes, I know, sue. I did manage to remove the 30 negative reviews with the help of a lawyer and forensic investigator, however, new ones from proxies started popping slowly (he's gotten smarter).
Thank you for your time. Any advice will be helpful.
I have a decent e-commerce site, which has been doing well with organic (non forced) links for the past 5 years. The site is pretty informative and well on-page optimized. I haven't forced any links to it, they have come naturally through the years.
Last year, something strange happened. Someone close to me (I considered him a very close friend) suddenly turned his back on me without apparent reason. He's been helping me with orders, receiving stock on my behalf (we were neighbors), etc. The person knew how much money I was making through the site, and also knew a lot of the details of how I built my business (as I said, he was close to me).
Few months after being in blissful ignorance why I was discarded from being his friend, it hit me really hard. That same person has made two similar sites to mine, and a forum (in addition to the two competing sites), which was dedicated to reviews of brands in the same niche. As you could probably guess, there were about 30 negative reviews about my business by the time I found out what was going on. As it turned out all those reviews were from the same IP (my ex-friend's IP). At the same time, he was pushing up his two e-commerce sites through the forum (while trashing me and optimizing for my brand name)
In addition, one year later, that same person keeps trolling all my backlinks and is stalking every single forum, blog, wiki, yahoo or anything else that random people have put content about my site through the years (unsolicited links I had). He also goes, and removes my links wherever he can. He goes and gets a link, article, lens, press release, or everything else I do, and his site is rapidly climbing rankings just a year after it was established.
In addition, he copied (spun) the content of my site, and needless to say uses my suppliers, all my contacts, etc. He was so close to me that he knew all this personal information.
I am really upset and annoyed. I have worked for 6 years on my reputation and credibility, and without bragging, I am proud of what I have been doing. However, it really hurts me that someone just capitalizes on my hard work, and is really good at getting ahead fast by simply copying me and trashing my image through fabricated reviews.
Any words of wisdom are appreciated. Yes, I know - get links where he can't get them, but that's really close to impossible (I am completely white hat, and not that rich either). Yes, I know, sue. I did manage to remove the 30 negative reviews with the help of a lawyer and forensic investigator, however, new ones from proxies started popping slowly (he's gotten smarter).
Thank you for your time. Any advice will be helpful.
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